


My year with Emma - Beginning

by postmortem



Series: 365 Days [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-18 08:52:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4699850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/postmortem/pseuds/postmortem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina Mills and Emma Swan had one year together. This a series of stories from those 365 days. They are not in chronological order.</p><p>All parts of the series can be read as stand-alone pieces.</p><p>We all know that their story began the first moment they laid eyes on eachother, but this chapter is about the night neither of them denied it anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My year with Emma - Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I meant to make this way angstier, but it just didn't feel right, so here is a break from the darkness, or at least from the depths of hell of the last two stories.

I toss and turn, and I can’t find a position that feels comfortable. It’s 2 a.m. and I’m lying in my bed, and sleep just doesn’t seem to want me.

It has been thirteen days since I saved Emma. Thirteen days of being the new Savior, thirteen days of people who hated me fourteen days ago suddenly wanting to be my friends. Because I saved them from the Dark One as much as because I saved Emma, I’m sure.

I keep replaying it in my head. I saved Emma, Henry hugged me, Mary Margaret hugged me, Charming hugged me, Emma did not hug me. Emma walked away. And then I don't remember anything, until I woke up in my own bed, and there were people in the room, but I was too dazed to recognise them. I had been asleep for three days, recovering from saving the Savior.

In the days following, people were walking in and out of my house all day long, bringing food, keeping Henry company, some even trying to help me get dressed and shower. It was unnerving, but I let them, because I really didn’t have the energy to protest.

On the seventh day, I asked them to give me some space. That night, I woke up, and it was dark, but I could sense a presence in my room. I asked if anyone was there, but there was only silence, and I fell back asleep.

The next night, there was a shadow of a figure kneeling by my bed, head buried in her arms on my mattress. I could hear stifled sobs, and I extended my hand, but then she was gone. My sheets were wet with tears.

On the night of her third visit, I placed a box of tissues and a pillow on the edge of my bed. I never woke up, but in the morning, I found a white flower made of tissue paper.

On the fourth night, I wrote her a note asking “are you okay?” I woke up to her clutching the pillow to her chest, looking at me with tired eyes. I held my hand out and waited. After a while, I could feel soft fingertips brushing across my wrist, and then staying there. I must have fallen asleep, and in the morning, under my note it said “I will be”.

On the evening of the fifth night, I grabbed a spare blanket from the guestroom and I left it for her. Some hours later, she was sitting on the floor by my bed, back against my nightstand, wrapped up in the blanket. She didn’t look at me, just stared at the wall, then whispered “I’m always cold now”.

The next night, I left her a mug of hot chocolate, and a warmer blanket. When I woke up, the mug was empty, and she was cuddled into the blanket, sitting on the floor, head on the pillow on my bed, her hand holding mine. She was sleeping.

In the morning, she was gone, so that night - last night - I laid her pillow next to mine, and her blanket ready for her. Later, when I saw her lying next to me, facing me, tears streaming down her face, I pulled her close and let her cry against my chest. Before she left, she kissed my forehead.

Today has been the first day that I’ve been well enough to stay awake for more than a few minutes. I sat in the backyard with Henry for a while, and I asked him if he’d heard from his mother. He told me that yeah, she’d been over everyday, checking on him, and that she was doing well. I hadn't expected to hear that. For some reason, I'd thought that she'd been elusive to everyone.

I can't get to sleep. My thoughts keep going back to the last few nights, and I'm wondering where she is. Finally, I get out of bed, and step out onto the balcony to get some fresh air. And there she is, leaning against the railing, looking down into the street. I take a few steps and stop next to her. We stand in silence for the longest time. Then she says “I’ve been out here for hours. I was scared to come in.” I turn my head to look at her, but she’s still staring straight ahead. I ask her why. “It was easier when you couldn’t keep your eyes open for more than two minutes.” She chuckles. Then gets serious again. “I’m afraid you’re going ask me to leave.” She looks at her feet.

“Emma,” I turn to face her, “I don’t want you to leave.” A sad smile spreads across her face. She whispers “I’m not used to that”. I take her hand. She looks every bit like the little girl who was sent away again and again. Something inside of me breaks for her, and in this moment, I would give anything just to see her happy. “Maybe I could help you get used to it, if you allow me.” She turns away from me and buries her face in her hands. I wrap my arms around her middle and lay my head against her back. We just stand like that for an eternity. Finally, she breaks the silence and asks “why did you save me?”

“Because you deserve so much better.” I rest my chin on her shoulder. “Why did you save me?”

“Because one way or another, I wanted to give you your happy ending.”

I’m not sure if my voice will hold up, so I whisper “you still can”. And then Emma turns around and grabs my face with both hands, stills for a moment and silently asks me for permission, and I smile, and then her lips are on mine, and she kisses me until we are both dizzy, and we laugh.

She wraps her arms around me, and holds me, and tells me that I need to get some rest, and I pull her back inside with me. We fall into the bed, and I cling to her, and I’m not planning to let her leave again, and this time, she doesn’t.


End file.
